Which Loon is it?

[nickinthegarden]

I was at the Pier in White Rock several days ago and I saw several Loons around. I took images of a number of them and as I was working on this one I realized it was not just another Common Loon, the beak was too narrow and the feather pattern did not quite match. I ran it through Merlin Photo app and it just confused me more. Its first choice was a Red-throated Loon and its 2nd choice was the Pacific Loon. Looking at my Peterson Guide and my Stokes guide has left me leaning towards Pacific Loon. I checked Ebird and it shows that Red-throated Loons have been seen in the area. What are your thoughts?

Pacific Loon by Nick, on Flickr

[Bentley]

Looks good for a Pacific. Red-throated tends to not have dark cheeks.

[paulos]

Hi Nick, I'm going to have to disagree here. Structurally this looks very much like a Red-throated Loon with the thin, upturned bill and the less rounded head. Pacifics have a shorter, rounder head, almost a semi-circle at the top of the head. The plumage is more or less wrong for either species, but there is some weird variation with Red-throated that I have seen. All the winter Pacifics I have seen have a very crisp, well-defined plumage, with nothing like that messy head. The fine checkering on the back is also a good fit for Red-throated.

[Randy]

I agree with Paul. Seems unusual for coloration but overall looks good for red-throated to me.

[nickinthegarden]

Thank you for your suggestions, I will tag it as Red-throated Loon.